New Russian election ads urge young girls to strip their clothes off for Putin.

A new online campaign invites girls to strip for the chance to win an iPad2. The goal: to have Vladmir Putin run for election in 2012.

Telegraph: Called “Putin’s Army”, it features a video of a blonde student called Diana who struts along Moscow’s streets in high heels and a black suit before scrawling “I will tear my clothes off for Putin” on a white top in red lipstick and starting to undo her clothes.

The promotional video is quite sexy with close-ups of Diana’s breasts and cute girls sipping waterside drinks, checking their Apple products. It’s unclear how connected the campaign is to Putin himself; it was just posted on the parliament blog Kirill Shchitov.

This seems a strange approach to get the youth involved in politics, and it may very well be a smear tactic by Putin opponents. Nudity was banned in Soviet advertising, so can we credit the lift on that prohibition for the shamelessness of this campaign? All bets are off in Russian campaigns, it seems.

In any case, who this campaign will work for seems up in the air, as well. Conservatives and Russian Orthodox will be turned off, and one has to wonder if young people dig this sort of thing? Horny old men, maybe.

One thing is certain: the absurdity of election season 2012 is off to a good start.